The forehand swing plane. The C or short and compact?

Hello all,
Since getting back into tennis recently, and going with the SW, whilst ditching the Eastern, was wondering about my swing plane..

Was taught old school , basically keep the swing simple, not a lot of racquet waving around.. The racquet take back is basically lower than the height of the incoming ball, then swing low to high follow through...Followed this but now I feel caught between the two swing planes.. At times big and loopy othertimes compact, just a bit more than a service return compact swing, if that makes sense.

I prefer a more compact swing, feels more natural, yet going SW seems to lend itself to the big C kind of takeback...

Hello all,
Since getting back into tennis recently, and going with the SW, whilst ditching the Eastern, was wondering about my swing plane..

Was taught old school , basically keep the swing simple, not a lot of racquet waving around.. The racquet take back is basically lower than the height of the incoming ball, then swing low to high follow through...Followed this but now I feel caught between the two swing planes.. At times big and loopy othertimes compact, just a bit more than a service return compact swing, if that makes sense.

I prefer a more compact swing, feels more natural, yet going SW seems to lend itself to the big C kind of takeback...

Would love all thoughts on the subject..

Click to expand...

I don't do SW much, plus I'm only a 3.0 competitively, so you might want to disregard my comment. However, I do have pretty good stroke mechanics, and played at about a 4.0+ level many years ago. My comment is just that I use both relatively loopy and very compact swings, and everything in between, depending on the situation, timing, preparation, etc. But I use something like an eastern grip most of the time so I'm not sure if it has any relevance to your concern. Interestingly, there are many slight variations in the grip as well, dependent on the factors mentioned above. I occasionally go to continental, probably also very semi-western, but never to full Western. Old school.

Hello all,
Since getting back into tennis recently, and going with the SW, whilst ditching the Eastern, was wondering about my swing plane..

Was taught old school , basically keep the swing simple, not a lot of racquet waving around.. The racquet take back is basically lower than the height of the incoming ball, then swing low to high follow through...Followed this but now I feel caught between the two swing planes.. At times big and loopy othertimes compact, just a bit more than a service return compact swing, if that makes sense.

I prefer a more compact swing, feels more natural, yet going SW seems to lend itself to the big C kind of takeback...

Would love all thoughts on the subject..

Click to expand...

Use both.

Tennis is complex - that's what makes it interesting.

If you have plenty of time, load with a big loopy take back to get the racquet acceleration to help power your stroke.

If you have plenty of time, load with a big loopy take back to get the racquet acceleration to help power your stroke.

When pressed for time, shorten the backswing.

Don't get to hit enough or play enough to practice both?

Then keep it simple and stick with a short take back.

Click to expand...

I think that's good advice. The goal is to groove the various strokes that will be used in varying situations. The simpler the mechanics is, then the easier it is to groove it. Unfortunately, even with the simplest yet still effective strokes it still take lots and lots (thousands) of repetitions of good shots to get really consistent and confident in pressure situations.

Don't obsess with backswing style. Instead, concentrate on early shoulder turn, getting ready to hit the ball before the ball get's to you.
Some years ago, two German girls had the best WTA forehands. Graf used a loopy backswing, AnkeHuber used a straight back low rackethead takeback. They were friends, played Davis Cup together, and used opposite style forehands.
Key is getting your shoulder's turned early, and don't think.

Post 3 says a lot....
Long loop for deep baseline rallies, and against slow incoming balls that you have time to prepare for, and you're going for lots of topspin and ball speed.
Short direct takeback for return of faster serves, incoming groundies that take you by surprise, and against deep balls.